Reimold's future plans?

With Rhyne Hughes‘ demotion back to Triple-A Norfolk, Orioles manager Dave Trembley confirmed that the Garrett Atkins will be the team’s first baseman for the next few days. But how much longer beyond that?

“I’ll sleep on it,” Trembley said following Atkins’ 0-for-4 showing in Sunday’s loss. “And we’ll see where we’re at.”

Things could get interesting given that Nolan Reimold started at first base for Norfolk on Sunday afternoon. Reimold has struggled offensively this season — prompting the demotion — but if he can get back on track he could get a shot at first base.

At one point last year that appeared to be the Orioles plan, but Reimold spent this spring solely in the outfield. He did take ground balls at first base in the final days of camp, but reporters were told to not read too much into it.

Given the spark Corey Patterson has given the O’s in left field, putting Reimold at first base isn’t such a crazy idea. Especially when you factor in the under-performing Atkins, who entered Sunday hitting .253 and is homer-less this year. Atkins struck out swinging, grounded into a double play and had two other ground outs against Indians starter Jake Westbrook to drop his average to .243.

Reimold went hitless in his first two games with the Tides, but connected for a two-run homer for in his third at-bat on Sunday.

8 Comments

Reimold at 1st base is a no-brainer since the guy is a defensive liabilty in the outfield .However one doesn’t learn a position like 1st base over night at the Major league level .He may not be able to pull it off due to its difficulties forever doomed to be a DH/OF type player. Reimold should have started this in Spring training . A better option is to get Alex Gordon who is rotting in AAA in a trade who can play 1st or third ,release & eat Atkin’s contract or bench Atkins (got to save Angelos money I think ). We have ZERO homers from the 1st base position and on a club thats starved for scoring runs THIS SHOULD BE ADDRESSED SOONER THAN LATTER !

Reimold is a major league talent who should never have been playing through his injury last year…period! He is no defensive liability either. Nolan is a gamer who is feeling the effects of stupid handling last year carrying over to this year. Maybe he can play first, but he is an ideal left fielder for a team who has legitimate power corners and a speedy centerfielder. Just let him recover, put him back in left and watch him hit .280+, with 15+ HRs. Any change with Nolan is a mistake!

I think Reimold needs the same therapy Bergesen got. Go
down & work on your game where there’s less pressure to
succeed immediately. It was the cure for Bergesen. Let Nolan get his timing at the plate back & he’ll help the O’s when he comes back. With Jones struggling, this isn’t the time to be converting outfielders to 1B. Wigg can do that
once Brian gets back. Cory isn’t going to keep up his numbers at this level. We all know his past history with the
O’s. So don’t get too excited about one week.

I saw Reimold at 1B in Buffalo Sunday… and he certainly did not look comfortable in the field. He was indecisive on when to toss a fielded ground ball to the pitcher, mishandled another, left himself out of position on a ground ball between first and second (fielded by 2B, fortunately Wolf was there to make the play), and made a pop up into a drama before pulling it in. He certainly does not have the instincts of a first baseman. Anyone playing like that in the majors would be severely trashed in the media. He may get better with time — but we really should underline TIME.

I saw Reimold in Buffalo Sunday and he looked lost at 1B. He was indecisive on a ground ball — fielded it, started to head for the bag (he had lots of time), hesitated, then flipped to Gabino covering, turning an easy out into a close play when the toss barely beat the runner — and he mishandled another ground ball, which was scored a hit. He left himself out of position on a ball between first and second (easily handled by 2B, the out at first recorded by the pitcher) and had some difficulty corralling a stadium-high popup… He really doesn’t have the instincts of a first baseman. Yes, it was his first game and he will get better, with time. If a major league first baseman performed like that he’d be trashed in the media. Good thing he hit the HR (just barely, by the way — it hit the top of the fence and bounced out). Based on Sunday, he is not the near future answer at 1B.

I went to Buffalo to see the Tides play on Monday and check out the talent. Reimhold was playing in Left Field. The experiment at first base is over and there isn’t enough time to teach him. I think he’s thinking way too much in the batter’s box, he really looks uncompfortable and definitely unready. He just looked messed up. As for the rest of the talent, based on the starting nine, it was a far cry from last year when we saw Wieters play just before he got called up. As fans, our solution for a brighter tomorrow is in Baltimore and just build with our talent at that level without any quick fixes we’ve seen and felt enough of them.
Not Murray

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